(no subject)
Okay, here's the thing: I really enjoy baking. I enjoy cooking, but I think I get a little extra edge of satisfaction out of baking.
There's the fact that most things I bake last longer than most things I cook (I've got two loaves of a ridiculously healthy quickbread baking right now), so the satisfaction lasts longer. Both can involve about the same amount of work, with chopping and dicing and mashing and scraping and stirring; and both can involve about the same amount of mess (maaaaybe more on the baking side if I'm breaking out the electric mixer). There's a certain soothing quality to both, to standing around prepping things and waiting for them to cook (though it seems like cooking involves more periods of frantic bursts of activity, things needing to be added and stirred constantly and the rest).
But I think I enjoy baking a little more because I used to help my mom bake a lot more than I used to help her cook, and I still occasionally have to call her up and say "Can I do this?" or "What can I substitute for that?" It's one of my favorite things about going home at the holidays, knowing I'll get to bake while my mom supervises from the other side of the kitchen table. Or just sits and chats.
There's the fact that most things I bake last longer than most things I cook (I've got two loaves of a ridiculously healthy quickbread baking right now), so the satisfaction lasts longer. Both can involve about the same amount of work, with chopping and dicing and mashing and scraping and stirring; and both can involve about the same amount of mess (maaaaybe more on the baking side if I'm breaking out the electric mixer). There's a certain soothing quality to both, to standing around prepping things and waiting for them to cook (though it seems like cooking involves more periods of frantic bursts of activity, things needing to be added and stirred constantly and the rest).
But I think I enjoy baking a little more because I used to help my mom bake a lot more than I used to help her cook, and I still occasionally have to call her up and say "Can I do this?" or "What can I substitute for that?" It's one of my favorite things about going home at the holidays, knowing I'll get to bake while my mom supervises from the other side of the kitchen table. Or just sits and chats.